Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.10.1967, Qupperneq 242

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been able to insert exact marginal dates for tbese three batties.
Of these, the first two correspond exactly with those in our Ms.;
the date given for the Battie of Lveråreyrar is July 19th, and this
is certainly right, so far as the information of Sturlunga saga goes,
although it is one day earlier than the date given by the Ms. The
remaining two pre-16th century dates show similar errors—Euro-
pean tradition dates the death of Johannes Hus to July 6th, two
days earlier than the date given here, and the death of Bishop
Laurentius of Holar (in 1331) is dated by two annals to “idus apri-
lis”12—i.e. April 13th, while our Ms. gives it opposite April 16th.
It is obvious, however, that this information could only be gathered
from an older Ms. of the same kind as this one, so it is likely that
these events have simply been displaced from their original dates
because there was other material already filling the space opposite
their correct dates in an older Ms. A subsequent misunderstanding
by our scribe would naturally lead to his placing the events one or
more days late, as happens in all these cases. And for two of them—-
the death of Bishop Laurentius and the Battie of Lveråreyrar—-
there are obvious items to fill this space, in the form of the begin-
ning of Summer and Midsummer, as then calculated in Iceland.
The eleven 16th century events, which are all dated, consist of
two groups—the six which deal with events in Europe, and the five
which are concemed with Iceland. Of the former, all six dates are
in exact agreement with the European tradition, which amounts
to saying they are correct. Of the five Icelandic ones, two can be
shown to agree with other statements in Mss.—they are the Battie
of SauSafell and the death of Jon Arason, which both took place
in 1660. The first is in agreement with Ny kgl. saml. 75a, 8vo. and
AM 181, 8vo., and the second with about six different Mss., in-
cluding these two13. Whether all these accounts are independent or
ia Is. Ann. pp. 206, 348. There is also a long and exultant account of his will on
pp. 269-71. The fullest account of his life is to be found in Einar HafliOason’s
“Laurentius saga”, which is printed in “Biskupa Sogur”, ed. Gudbrandur Vigfus-
son and Jon SigurOsson, (2 Vols.), Copenhagen, 1858-78, Vol. 1, pp. 789 ff, but this
breaks off just before his death. I shall refer to this work as Bisk., with vol. and
page ref.
13 Ob.Is., a: p. 72 (AM 249B, fol.), p. 80 (AM 241B, fol. IV), p. 177 (Ny kgl.
saml. 75A, 8vo., containing two calendars), p. 189 (AM 181, 8vo.), p. 219 (Ny kgl.
saml. 1281, fol.).